A Telling Fortune II
by Todash
Summary: As you might guess, a sequel to “A Telling Fortune.” B.J. is still pondering what the fortune teller told him. Slash implications, B.J./Hawkeye.


**A Telling Fortune II**

_(Sequel to "A Telling Fortune.")_

---

"Do you wanna split the last sandwich?" Hawkeye asked, and B.J. glanced over. He was holding it out in offering, but B.J. shook his head.

"Nah, you go ahead, Hawk."

"Tell you what. I'll eat half of it and leave the other half, just in case you change your mind later."

B.J. smiled and turned his attention back to the clouds. He'd been lying there on the grass staring up at them, thinking that someday he'd do this same thing with his daughter, asking her what each cloud looked like. As far as he was concerned, today they all looked like cotton swabs; his mind was too preoccupied for him to exercise much imagination.

This break from the war was nice, though. No casualties yesterday or today, so he and Hawkeye were out on a picnic, not even a mile from camp but someplace green and quiet and all theirs for a little while. Hawkeye had made his famous peanut butter and bologna sandwiches to bring along. They were an acquired taste, to be sure, but B.J. had become addicted to them by now. A year ago, if somebody had said "peanut butter and bologna sandwiches" to him, he'd have uttered a resounding "Yuck!" It's funny how much a person can change.

"Hawk?" He didn't take his eyes off the puffy white clouds in the sky.

"Hmm?"

"Do you ever look back over your life and wish you'd done something differently?"

Hawkeye paused only briefly. "I wish I hadn't opened that draft notice," he cracked.

B.J. laughed softly, but what he thought was: _If you hadn't opened your draft notice, I would have never met you. _"Besides that," he prompted.

Silence as Hawkeye seemed to consider the question more seriously. "I don't think about things like that, Beej. But I'd have to say no, I wouldn't do anything differently." B.J. heard him shifting, turning toward him. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," he lied. "Just pondering some of life's bigger questions."

"We ponder enough of life's questions on a daily basis around here. Give yourself a break. Enjoy the peace and quiet, enjoy the day."

For a few minutes, B.J. did just that. But his brain kept on spinning, and his thoughts wouldn't stop trying to escape through his mouth. After some time, into the companionable stillness between them, he said, "You think you'll ever get married?"

This brought laughter from Hawkeye, genuine, full-throated laughter. "You really _are_ thinking about the great mysteries of life, aren't you? C'mon, Beej, why don't you just tell me what's going on?"

B.J. finally turned onto his side then, to face his friend, who was lying just a couple of feet away on the soft grass. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, not awkwardly, not self-consciously… but the way they did just about everything, with a kind of emotion that B.J. hadn't ever really experienced before he met Hawkeye.

"I was in Tokyo last week," he began.

"I remember that," Hawkeye said, his tone teasing. "You bought me that beautiful scarf, which I love. Beej, my memory isn't so terrible that I've already forgotten you went on R&R without me."

B.J. repeated, not allowing himself to get derailed, "I was in Tokyo last week, and I did something a little silly."

Hawkeye gave him the patented Pierce leer. "You didn't buy yourself a date, did you, Mr. Clean-cut?"

"No, nothing like that. This was silly, not stupid." Or maybe it _was_ stupid, actually. He hadn't yet made up his mind about that. "I went to a fortune teller."

Hawkeye laughed again. "That does sound silly, and not at all like you. I hope she hasn't got you thinking your days are numbered or some such bullshit."

"No, not that. She actually didn't have much to say about my future at all. She didn't find it very, um, clear, I guess."

"Well then that was a waste of money! If a fortune teller can't see your future, what good is she?"

B.J. opened his mouth, then hesitated. For some reason, he suddenly wanted to backpedal, convinced this was the wrong place, the wrong time to bring up the fortune teller's revelation. His heartbeat had picked up, his hands were sweaty.

_I'm afraid to talk about it, and I'm afraid not to.__  
_  
He shook his head slightly and decided to trust his instincts.

"She was enlightening in other ways," he said cryptically, and then fell silent. He watched Hawkeye's face, waiting for the inevitable follow-up questions, but they didn't come. Perhaps Hawkeye somehow knew, or surmised, what the woman had said to him. Was that possible? The two of them were always on the same wavelength, frighteningly so. Practically mind-melded.

Maybe he understood what B.J. couldn't say.

Birds sang and a light breeze blew, but B.J. was unaware. He couldn't take his eyes from Hawkeye's intense blue ones. He watched with fascination as Hawkeye slowly reached over and brushed a thumb across his cheek, smiling. His feather-light touch sent a shiver through B.J.'s body.

"You had a bug on your cheek," Hawkeye explained, and B.J. let out a breath. In response, he only nodded. Hawkeye glanced away, looking out over the expansive field, then focused on B.J. again. "Do you want to head back?"

"No," B.J. said softly. "Not yet."

"OK."

The eye contact lingered once again, and B.J. knew. He knew it like he knew that the hip bone's connected to the thigh bone.

The fortune teller had gotten it right. He was with the person who mattered most to him, not just in this part of the world but in the entire world. His life had taken a turn somewhere along the line, at some point between his arrival in Korea and now… and for a long time, he'd refused to believe it. But now he was accepting it, even if he couldn't say it out loud yet.

"That fortune teller?" he murmured, and Hawkeye nodded, waited. "Best money I ever spent."

They smiled at each other as if sharing a secret, then stretched out again on the grass, looking up at the sky.


End file.
